US eliminated from World Cup of Hockey after loss to Canada

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Team Canada's John Tavares (20) battles with Team USA's Erik Johnson (6) and Dustin Byfuglien (33) during first period World Cup of Hockey action in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Team Canada's Corey Perry celebrates his goal against Team USA during first period World Cup of Hockey action in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Team Canada's Corey Perry scores on Team USA goalie Jonathan Quick as John Carlson looks on during first period World Cup of Hockey action in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Team Canada's Corey Perry, second right, celebrates his goal with teammates Jay Bouwmeester, from left, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews and Logan Couture during first period World Cup of Hockey action against Team USA in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

TORONTO (AP) — The United States was eliminated from contention at the World Cup of Hockey by a 4-2 loss to Canada on Tuesday night that featured a clinical, dominant performance by the tournament favorite and a disappointing showing by the Americans.

The U.S. (0-2) couldn't keep up with Canada's talent, depth or speed in a game it needed to win to stay alive. Canada and Team Europe clinched spots in the semifinals, while the Americans are left to analyze what went wrong on the international stage yet again.

"We didn't play well enough," coach John Tortorella said. "You look at some of those players on our roster, there are some pretty good skilled players and we just simply did not do enough offensively and we self-inflicted quite a bit in two games."

Matt Duchene scored twice and Corey Perry and Patrice Bergeron each had a goal for Canada, which got 34 saves from Carey Price. U.S. goalie Jonathan Quick stopped 30 shots, keeping the game from becoming even more of a blowout.

Ryan McDonagh and T.J Oshie scored for the U.S., which ended Price's shutout streak at 228:41.

U.S. general manager Dean Lombardi said in June that his goal was to build a team that could beat Canada. The American roster, heavy on size and grit and light on speed and skill, was widely panned when it was announced, and it took more hits as the U.S. flamed out of the World Cup.

Tortorella said he's still waiting for the U.S. to generate some offense. Among those left off the roster were forwards Phil Kessel, Paul Stastny and Kyle Okposo, and defensemen Justin Faulk and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Minutes after the game went final, Kessel tweeted : "Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn't put my finger on it." It was just his third tweet in the past year, one of which was a picture of him raising the Stanley Cup.

Captain Joe Pavelski said everyone picked for the team deserved to be there.

This loss dropped the U.S. to 1-5 against the world's top hockey power in best-on-best competition going back to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The Americans still have one round-robin game left, Thursday against the similarly lame-duck Czech Republic.

On Tuesday night, the play was even more lopsided than the score indicated, with Canada grabbing control after McDonagh's rebound goal 4:22 in. Counting the World Cup and Olympics, the U.S. has only two goals over the last 11 periods.

The U.S. lead lasted 1:29 as Duchene and Perry scored 14 seconds apart. American defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, inserted into the lineup to provide offense, lost Duchene and allowed him to put the puck into a wide-open net.

Tortorella, whose decisions have been second-guessed since he was named coach — another move that was criticized — tried unsuccessfully to challenge Perry's goal for goaltender interference. He then appeared to unsuccessfully yank Quick for Ben Bishop after Duchene's second goal, even though Max Pacioretty botched a clearing attempt and Erik Johnson was caught flat-footed, but he was talked out of it by his assistants.

Quick was hardly to blame for another U.S. debacle. Canada's fourth goal came when John Tavares undressed Matt Niskanen and banked the puck in off the skates of McDonagh and Bergeron. His play was a rare bright spot on another dark night for USA Hockey, which now has major changes to contemplate.

The American players had their own individual problems against Canada that weren't cured by Oshie's late goal. Tortorella said his best players had to be his best players, and aside from Quick that was not the case.

"We lost," Tortorella said. "It wasn't good enough."

Hart Trophy winner Patrick Kane had a secondary assist on McDonagh's goal but was a nonfactor the rest of the night. Pavelski and winger Zach Parise also failed to make a difference in one of the biggest games for this generation of Americans that had developed a reputation for coming up short against Canada.

"It's definitely frustrating being an American and having these opportunities and have nothing to show for it," Kane said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Relatives of Jesse Owens and America's 17 other black athletes from the 1936 Olympics were welcomed to the White House on Thursday by President Barack Obama for the acknowledgement they didn't receive along with their white counterparts 80 years ago.

Along with the relatives of the 1936 African-American Olympians, gloved-fist protesters Tommie Smith and John Carlos and members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams met the president and first lady Michelle Obama. Obama congratulated the Rio athletes, thanked Smith and Carlos for waking up Americans in 1968 and praised 1936 Olympians who made a statement in front of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

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